The Terrace Optical Illusion

This illusion was created by David MacDonald. He describes the process,

"All my images are made the same way. I create a "matrix" in CorelDRAW according to strict rules of perspective, except for the false connections. This is then brought into Photo-Paint where it is "rendered" with purpose-taken, digitally photographed textures and objects. A print-out of the matrix is used as a reference guide during photography to help ensure that the objects are photographed with the correct point of view to fit."

This illusion took "in the region of sixty purpose taken photographs."

A wonderful blend of photography and digital imaging.

The Terrace
Used with Permission
Copyright 1998, 1999 David MacDonald
Any use without express permission is prohibited

Update: David MacDonald recently put launched a new presence on the web called Cambiguities, check out his other amazing creations.

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Team Spirit Illusion

Below is what I refer to as the team spirit illusion.

Elis outsmart Harvard.

Click on picture to purchase this poster

The "Harvard Pep Squad" ran up and down the aisles of Harvard Stadium at The Game Nov. 20. They had megaphones in hand and their faces were painted as they encouraged the crowd to hold up the 1,800 red and white pieces of construction paper they had handed out. It would read "Go Harvard," they said.

But the 20 "Pep Squad" members were actually Yale students. And when the Harvard students, faculty and alumni held up their pieces of paper -- over and over again -- they spelled out "We Suck" in giant block letters the whole stadium could read. Read the rest here.

They made a mini movie of their exploit check it out @ Harvardsucks.org

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ESP Experiment

Cliff Pickover, I believe is the first to demonstrate this illusion. on his site he states the following:

I am conducting a fascinating ESP experiment. Recent statistics suggest that my system can predict the correct outcome of your choice with 98% accuracy.

This is not one of those cheesy number game tricks. It is so convincing that The Daily Mirror of the UK said the following:

"It's got to be one of the weirdest sites we've ever come across but it's definitely worth visiting. Pop into http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/esp.html and you'll be baffled for days - even months. We don't know how he does it but Cliff Pickover, the site's creator, claims he's conducting an ESP test. Click on one of three eyes, he asks, and then look at six playing cards. Without moving your cursor, pick a card, shout out its name and then click on one of six more eyes. It then tells you which card you chose. It claims to be correct 98 per cent of the time but won't tell you how. Every one of the 60 times we tried - and we did everything we could to trick them - they got it right. Spooky!" (page 45)

Cliff has a great site, but in this review they claim to have gone through the experiment "60 times" and "we did everything we could to trick them" only for Cliff's site to guess correctly all 60 times. Admittedly this parlor trick is fun but before those at the Mirror start accusing people of being dumb here in the United States (frontpage Nov 4th) they should take a look in their own mirror.

Go to Cliff's site and check out this illusion for yourself, it is definitely worth the visit. If you can't figure out how it is done check the explanations on the site. If you still can't figure it out check the comments below.

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Trippy Mirror Animation

This optical illusion is an excellent example of a recursive animation.

Click on the link below the animation to go to the creator's site.

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The Illusion of Perpetual Motion

Here is an example of a scientific illusion. A perpetual motion machine sketched out in the 17th century. It seems simple enough, the water wheel moves the pump which pumps the water to the top which moves the water wheel. As an added bonus they use a linkage to move a grinding stone and grind their wheat. Preety sweet deal if it worked.

You can see this an others at the Museum of Unworkable Devices

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Pennywise Illusion Explanation

Here is an illusion of a different type.

I was talking to a friend of mine that has taken up coin collecting rather late in life. He figures it will be cheaper then getting married again. Anyways he went into a coin dealer he knows to talk shop and came across an interesting tidbit.

According to his coin dealer 1972 pennies are significantly more valuable than 1932 pennies.

Now I know that I am a layman and know absolutely nothing about this hobby but this doesn't seem right to me. Can any of you explain to me why this might be?

via Dick Larkin's Motivational & Marketing Moment



Well, it's because

1,972 pennies is worth $19.72

But

1,932 pennies are only worth $19.32

This is another example how we bring our own preconceptions into everything we do. Here many of us saw the image of the penny and the date on the penny and automatically assumed that we were talking about the years 1972 and 1932.

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